Play ball!

Yet another reason for people to hate the Dodgers. In fact, 70 million more reasons. Wow, is that a ridiculous amount!

Yeah I just saw that.  10 years, 70 million?  They can have him, that's ridiculous.  For 70 million a year you could get yourself a couple of really good starting pitchers AND a good hitter.  I mean REALLY good players.  One guy isn't worth that, I don't care if he does pitch AND hit.  What if he gets hurt?  Now you've effectively lost TWO players.

EDIT: The more I think about it the more absurd this is. For that same $70M what kind of outstanding players could you get? Let's say you sign two pitchers for $25M each and an everyday player for $20M. You'd be getting some great talent; probably a #2 and #3 starting pitcher and a #5 or #6 hitter. I agree that I'm only considering the on-field production for the money and an owner is really just worried about making money - period. But still, think about the kind of talent you could plug into your team for $70M. It's mind boggling

$2.22 per second!

Did you hear this detail about his contract:

Quote :

On Monday, we learned what those deferrals entail. Per The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya, Ohtani is deferring all but $2 million of his $70 million average annual salary until the contract's conclusion in 2034. That means he won't see $680 million of the salary for more than a decade.

I'll say this much, Ohtani has always said the most important thing to him is winning. I guess taking "only" 2 mil of his annual 70mil salary for a whole decade proves he wasn't lying. That's one HELL of a deferral so the Dodgers can throw even MORE money around to get MORE players. I wonder if this contract is going to turn out like the Bobby Bonilla one where the Dodgers will be paying Ohtani for 20 years after he retires.

If it was all about winning, he wouldn't have considered the Angels at all.
You had to know the Dodgers would throw a ton of money at him. They've been trying to buy every free agent they can in the last few years. They've become worse than the Yankees. The deferral is a joke. It's like sidestepping the rules of the luxury tax. MLB should stop those.

I agree, the Dodgers are worse than the Yankees. It will really piss me off if they use some of that deferred money to stockpile even more superstar players.

Hot Stove is talking to the writer who covers the Jays for Sportsnet. He's saying their offer to Ohtani was in the same neighborhood as what the Dodgers ended up signing him for.

Have you seen this?

Yep! They showed that on Hot Stove yesterday

The Expos sure had a good team when they had Pedro, Guerrero Sr., and Walker.

Don't forget the also had Randy Johnson. I saw an "all Expo" team once before and with the names that played for that franchise you have to wonder how they couldn't survive in that city.

The Dodgers are at it again, getting Tyler Glasnow from the Rays.

This morning Hot Stove had a feature about Stephen and Chris Caray.  They're 24 year old twins calling games for Arizona's minor league team.  They're the 4th generation of Caray baseball announcers.  Harry, Skip and Chip (their father and the Cardinals announcer).  If one or both of them makes it to the majors that would make over 100 consecutive years of a Caray announcing MLB games.  Isn't that amazing?

Wow, that is impressive!

The Jays have done nothing so far. I hear rumors about Bellinger and others, but you always hear rumors. I heard Bellinger was looking for $200M. I wouldn't give him that. He's had one good year in the last three. He could be great or a complete bust. Too risky.

Hot Stove keeps talking about the Jays and Bellinger too. But I agree, I wouldn't give him $200M

I wouldn't be surprised if the Jays make a large trade. I'm not sure who they'd target.

The Dodgers are pulling off the worst case of trying to buy a World Series that I've ever seen! They are worse than the Mets last year, and they make the Yankees look fiscally restrained.

Hot Stove just started and now I know what prompted that comment above. 12 years/$325M for a completely unproven commodity (at least in MLB). I really hope this guy is terrible. I so want the Dodgers to totally bomb in 2024.

You and me both.

I didn't realize this Yamamoto guy is 25. So the Dodgers signed him through his age 37 season??? That makes this deal even more ludicrous. They spend all this money on a guy who has never pitched in the majors AND sign him until he's way past his prime even if he miraculously manages to stay healthy that whole time - which of course he won't since he's a pitcher.

All this spending may pay off for LA in the short term but odds are we're going to be looking back on this and laughing at them in 5 years or so when they're stuck with a billion dollars in contracts for two guys who aren't even playing anymore.

I agree that it's a ridiculous contract. I think any contract over 5 years doesn't age well. I don't wish bad upon the players, but I sure do upon the Dodgers!

It's mind-boggling that the Dodgers have now spent a billion dollars on TWO players.

Isn't it completely ridiculous?!

Hot Stove opened talking about the Padres being close to signing Korean pitcher woo suk go (which if following the actual Korean way of saying it would be "Go Woo Suk". Hot Stove's comment was "Somewhere in the world Pete Lacock is saying "Thank God, finally someone else in the cross-hairs". I laughed out loud. I remember Pete Lacock mainly because he hit a grand slam off of Bob Gibson in Gibson's last game.

Bummer of a name!

Bob Costas was on Hot Stove talking about how he hung around with Harry Caray when Costas was just beginning his broadcasting career. He said after a night on the town with Caray in Chicago they were at Harry's bar and while Harry was surrounded by admiring fans both young and old, male and female, Harry pronounced "This is what it's all about kid; booze, broads, baseball and bullshit." That about sums up Harry Caray.

The Cardinals just never learn. They've traded Richie Palacios to Tampa for pitcher Andrew Kitteridge. So we all know how this is going to turn out. Palacios will be a superstar for Tampa. You'd think teams would learn not to make deals with Tampa because if the Rays are ready to part with somebody it's somebody who will be worthless.

I hear ya. Tampa seems to have a knack for drafting and developing great players. Then they get rid of them when they are too expensive or washed up. By that time, they've got someone else ready to go.

Guy we gave up:

Quote :

The Cardinals acquired the 26-year-old Palacios from the Guardians in exchange for cash considerations last year and he made it to the big league club in mid-August, appearing in 32 games. He hit .258 with six home runs and 16 RBIs with the Cards.

Guy we got:

Quote :

Kittredge was 18-7 with a 3.65 ERA in seven MLB seasons with the Rays. He missed parts of the 2022 and ’23 seasons following the ligament replacement surgery in his right elbow.

So we gave up a kid who had 6 homers and 16 RBI in 32 games and we got back a 33 year old bullpen pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery?  Yep, sounds like a deal with the Rays. This has "Arozarena - The Sequel" written all over it.